Cheers & Tears: DS Shooters

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Grab your stylus and set your sights. We're targeting the best and worst shooters on DS.

By Lucas M. Thomas

The DS was first pitched on the strength of a first-person shooter.

When the handheld was initially announced at E3 2004, over five and a half years ago, the proof-of-concept game was Metroid Prime: Hunters -- a portable conversion of the popular first-person blasting adventure that had already made a name for itself on the company's then-current console. Though the version displayed at that show was early, it served its intended purpose -- it got people thinking about the potential for the system's touch screen, and particularly how it could be leveraged to revolutionize shooting games in the portable scene.

Years later, the DS has seen the release of several such titles. From the final version of Metroid Prime: Hunters to the latest Renegade Kid project, first-person shooters have found a home on the handheld. Other styles of shooters, too, have used the platform as a launch pad for ambitious retro revivals -- old-school 2D experiences, re-imagined to play out across two screens simultaneously.

This week's Cheers & Tears looks at all of the above -- the full array of games that can rightly be called "shooters." We'll run down five of our top picks for the system below. If you want to jump straight over to Page 2, though, click right here. That's where we'll examine five of the worst examples of the genre too.

First up, the system's first shooter -- sort of. When the Nintendo DS shipped to stores in its original Phat version back in 2004, a demo of this game was bundled in the box. Called Metroid Prime: Hunters -- First Hunt, the trial version proved the system's shooter potential to the general public, as Nintendo had done with what it put on display for the press at that year's E3. The final, retail release took a long time to make it out to market, though -- it didn't drop until March of 2006, over a year and a half later.

It was worth the wait. Metroid Prime: Hunters told a compelling story in Samus Aran's universe, introducing a set of rival bounty hunters all out for her blood. Taking them on one-by-one in the title's single-player mode was a blast -- but that was only the beginning. Multiplayer was the real focus, and going online through Nintendo's WiFi Connection to blast away at other humans taking control of those new Hunter characters was even more intriguing.

Quite possibly the best retro revival yet seen on the DS hardware, Contra 4 brought back the classic running-and-gunning action of a franchise left dormant for years by its parent company. The capable and just a bit crazy WayForward Technologies drug the classic design kicking and screaming into an all-new era, amping up the action to even more over-the-top and ridiculous heights than ever before. Tons of explosions, two screens' worth of death and destruction, and the Spread Gun. Gotta have the Spreader.

Contra 4 is definitely the go-to fix for shooter/platformer action on Nintendo DS, and its existence makes all of us old nostalgia-fueled gamers of the '80s hopeful for the future preservation of our childhood memories going forward into the next decade and beyond. Could Contra 5 come along some day? This release certainly justifies it -- if WayForward isn't too busy reviving other classic brands, like A Boy and His Blob.

Among the insanely difficult shooter sub-genre known as "bullet hell," few games are as well regarded as Bangai-O. The Treasure-developed N64/Dreamcast shooter set the world on fire with its debut 10 years ago, as it challenged players to dodge massive amounts of deadly enemy fire while counter-attacking with eight-way directional attack control (and eight-way directional movement). You should be able to get a mental picture of the madness based on that brief description alone.

Bangai-O Spirits revived the concept last year on DS, and did its predecessor proud -- even on the DS system's small screens, the intensity is accurately conveyed. Don't get too cocky, though, if you think all the hype is just big talk -- you'll find yourself quickly humbled as soon as you try it for yourself, and then humiliated when the game literally laughs at you for dying.

Bangai-O Spirits reached back 10 years to find its inspiration and bring it to the DS -- Space Invaders Extreme trumps that stat by two more decades, though. A modern revision of the original Space Invaders from 1978, Space Invaders Extreme took one of the earliest shooter concepts -- from over 30 years ago -- and modernized it with techno funk, psychedelic visuals and incredibly frantic action.

Extreme is a completely addictive update on the classic design, and we think so highly of it that it actually made the cut for our Top 25 DS Games of All Time feature. Not too shabby, that. Publisher Taito seems to have recognized its success, too, because a follow-up sequel is on the way next month -- Space Invaders Extreme 2. Can't wait to see how that one shapes up as well.

Finally, we're mad at you. Because you didn't buy Moon. Unless you did buy Moon, in which case we think you rock.

Developed by Renegade Kid (of Dementium: The Ward fame), Moon leveraged its studio's considerable 3D expertise and combined it with a haunting, lonely adventure of exploration across the surface of the Earth's sole orbiting body. Metroid fans should have picked up on its sci-fi vibe, and yet it's not a clone of Nintendo's design -- it is wholly its own game, and the mood contained in every environment and cutscene is palpable.

Sometimes shooters are all about the high-octane action and tons of explosions. Other times they're all about atmosphere -- and Moon is one that will take your breath away.